RPG Active Renfield

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Combat in Skyrim wasn't especially fun.

I wouldn't go so far as to say it wasn't fun. It just lacked depth.
You're completely right about kiting and stealth.
Blasting people with lightning never got old for me.
Then a bandit with a 2-handed weapon would 1-shot me.

Have you ever tried Chivalry?
Maybe a melee system like that would interest people.

Fun combat isn't necessary in an H-game.

I hope you're right.
Because the first edition of Renfield will be incredibly simple.
Enemies will aggro, run at you, then start swinging away.
Their AI will be like many MMO mobs.

Over time I'd like to make it a bit more involved.
There are few games which make each individual fight exciting.
Even enemies in Dark Souls become routine after you learn their pattern.
My goal is to make intelligent, quirky enemies that keep you on your toes.

I've developed a system for semi-intelligent enemies.
They'll learn from you as they watch you fight.

Let's say you find a group of 3 orcs.
They are all equipped with swords & shields.
Each of them is spawned with an array of their defense ratings vs. different techniques.
If you only have 2 attacks (weak and strong) they'll have an array of [50,50].
That's a 50% chance of blocking either kind of attack.

Now if you rush one of the orcs and quickly cut him down with a series of weak attacks,
the other orcs may gain a boost in defense against weak attacks but lose some defense against strong attacks.
Now their defensive arrays look more like [51,49].

If you keep spamming the weak attack then they will keep growing stronger against it.
So by the time you've killed the second orc, the last orc may have a 60% chance to block your weak attacks.
But now if you use a strong attack it will "surprise" him.
Essentially, the more you vary your moves, the more you'll pwn.

Implementing a gamepad+mouse control scheme would be silly.

I'll have the keyboard and mouse controls by default.
But I still like the idea of standing still while rummaging around or moving items on a table.
Maybe a hotkey could be held down that switched your mouse from "look" mode using a crosshair to "hands" mode which uses a mouse cursor.
Hopefully the result will be to make your character able to do things that Helen Keller could do, but the Dovahkiin couldn't.

Like setting a table or moving items on a shelf without them flying across the room.

 

[Darkstrain]

Re: Renfield

your fight system seems well thought, but beware of the exploit (using a similar example) kill one orc with only weak attacks then the second orc is actually weaker against the strong finisher move, as a concept its nice, but if the boss orc is one of those three, then it would be very easy to kill by making his array 70-30 against strong then going ham on him, also, for the choice making, the strong attack should have a big cost in resources, or else it becomes trivial just 1-2 everything to keep the array at 50-50

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Here's a test demonstration of the H-scene system.
Don't judge it too harshly: it's still in a pre-alpha stage.

You must be registered to see the links

mediafire.com/download/5n8a44l6k2axa25/RenTest.rar

I threw in a bunch of random graphics from some doujins.
Also there's not-safe-for-work audio.
The H-text is dynamically generated.
Let me know what everyone thinks about the direction I'm taking.

 

[stuntcock42]

Re: Renfield

Here's a test demonstration of the H-scene system.
...
Let me know what everyone thinks about the direction I'm taking.

Can't offer much commentary yet; the demo is too simple. Here are some suggestions which might help you to elicit useful feedback from the forum.

• If possible, show us the scene-definition script.
  • If it's currently hardcoded, then show us a mockup (or better yet - implement a scene definition schema and migrate the hardcoded stuff into it).
  • The key question here is "how would a modder adjust the scene or create a new one from scratch?"
    • Do they splice in specific filenames for images, or do they use a managed-resource file system?
    • Can they refer interchangeably to still images, gif animations, and flv/mp4 clips, or would each of these types require special markup?
    • Does the script need to specify the duration of each particular dialog-slide (for the sake of "Auto Mode" users)? If the modder forgets to include a duration, then could the game perhaps just guess an appropriate duration based on word count, or make an assumption such as "advance the slide after the current animation has looped five times"?
  • Just as a matter of personal curiosity -- I'd be interested to see some of the details of the dynamic-text stuff and how it gets integrated into a dialog script. Like - does this just apply to sexual groans, or could you stimulate a character so much that you begin to see weird vowel sounds spliced into their normal scripted speech? Is it flexible enough to allow for goofy speech patterns? (e.g. pirates randomly insert "yarr" into normal dialog; catgirls randomly meow, etc)
• You mentioned nakadashi, so it would be a good idea to include some examples of picture-in-picture overlays (note: I'm assuming that the current "fixed-size always-visible image brackets in the bottom corners" are a temporary feature).
• You can use placeholders of course, but this would let modders (and potential buyers) provide feedback on graphical composition. Examples:
  • "The 3d models can't emote very well, so I want to show an inset with a super-deformed anime reaction face when you tear the girl's clothes off or stick it in her pooper"
  • "it's okay to use a still image of the girl if you have an animated overlay showing penetration"
  • "I want to be able to click on the overlays so that the overlay replaces the main image (which becomes a sub-image)"
  • "I want to be able to fade the overlays in and out so that they're less jarring"
  • "I want to be able to put overlays in different corners of the screen depending on the scene. For this doggystyle scene I want a face closeup in the bottom right corner and a simultaneous penetration closeup in the top left corner"
  • "I want to be able to render a transparent 2d animation on top of the 2d still image; it's an easy way to draw a cumshot that can be reused in multiple scenes."
• Transitions. Smash cuts? Crossfades? Star wipes? Motion tweens? What sort of options will be available to modders?
• Window size.
  • The current images are badly distorted by stretching, but stretch behaviour is actually an important consideration.
  • Find some images that fit the game window properly at its default size, and then wait for testers to play the game at various resolutions and offer feedback.
  • If people are playing on widescreen monitors then they'll want to know whether 4:3 images are going to get stretched or pillarboxed. Modders need to know how the game does display adaptation, so that they can plan accordingly (e.g. "don't put anything important in the leftmost 15%, because that parts gets cropped first"). Or perhaps this becomes a markup option in the script, so that authors/modders get to influence how the game will adapt the images into the available space.
  • People with large display may complain about images appearing grainy; if you're using prerendered images then you may need to capture them at a high resolution in order to placate these guys.
  • Gamers in general want to know how UI elements (e.g. font sizes) will automatically adapt when playing at very low or high resolutions.
• The game currently uses a single flat assets archive (I think). That's fine for early development, but you should consider your modding plans/tools ASAP and use a modular rather than monolithic approach wherever possible.
  • If a modder simply dumps a bunch of JPEGs into their game directory, would it be possible for those files to automatically "override" (at runtime) any game assets with matching filenames? (c.f. Neverwinter Nights)
    • This would be useful for modders because it allows rapid testing, but it could also improve the game's market potential: "The game currently uses placeholder graphics which are kinda ugly. There's a completely unauthorized mod pack which replaces them with amazing pics from talented hentai artists, so that you can enjoy the combat and questing without losing your boner at the first uncanny-valley sex scene. Of course, those images are used without permission, so we can't provide any direct links. But here is a totally unrelated string of alphanumeric characters which might do something neat if you plug them into tinyurl. "
  • Do modders need to download Unity toolsets in order to package their content files into a usable asset-archive? If so, how do they get the assets to show up in-game?
• How does the scene-definition format jive with localisation? Do we have a single XML-style file with separate inline tags for [en-US]freedom cheeseburger don't mess with Texas[/en-US] and [ja-JP]watashi desu oniichan senpai[/ja-JP]? Or would this be handled via entirely separate files: witch_sex_dungeon_EN.txt and witch_sex_dungeon_JP.txt?
  • The second option would require more work, because basic details like filenames and transition-timing would get copy-pasted (and then you need to maintain the 2 copies in parallel whenever changes occur).
  • On the other hand, the second option would allow greater flexibility for translators and it might simplify the censorship process.
• IIRC you mentioned content-filtering (e.g. player selects "no guro" in the options menu).
  • It would be a good idea to show how this works - would the scene script include a special tag (e.g. [guro]2minutesOfHorribleContentHere[/guro]) which the game engine automatically detects and skips at runtime, or would modders need to include their own if-then-else logic in the scene script?
  • Would the player get any notification about a skipped scene, or would the game just silently advance to the next non-offensive section? Or maybe this could be another option: "show Guro", "skip Guro", "skip Guro but notify me", "ask me each time"
• Hide GUI.
  • This is a very standard feature in H-games, often mapped to RightClick or Spacebar.
  • You should demonstrate this feature so that players can give feedback on the size, position, and opacity of GUI elements.
  • Eventually you'll want to demonstrate it in conjunction with a looping animation (showing fullscreen sexy action with ongoing sexy noises) so that players can comment on looping, desyncing, stuttering or tearing, memory leaks, accidental scene advancement, etc.
• Text/scene history.
  • Another standard feature. Admittedly, it's usually important when the player is asked to make a decision mid-dialog and they've been skipping everything. If the sex scenes lack choices then you might be able to omit it. Unless you plan to use the same GUI for non-sex dialog scenes, of course.
• Interactivity.
  • Even if the sex scenes don't involve major moral choices, the player will presumably have some control (e.g. inside/outside).
  • Show us what the GUI might look like - the "win fight" or "lose fight" coin-flip is an obvious example. Get some feedback on size, text readability, accidental clickthrough, etc...
  • If you're serious about gamepad support, then modders will need to include button-hotkey options in their scripts (or just use a consistent input pattern: "the A button is always the topmost choice, B is the next one down, left trigger is QuickLoad, etc")
  • Could the game engine allow some decisions to be made by clicking on the scene rather than clicking on textboxes? For example: click on the buttocks means [[BEGIN_SPANKING_SCENE_2A]]; click on tits switches to a paizuri or pearl-necklace scene, etc...
    • Obviously, this would depend on the level of detail/effort that the modder is willing to put in. But the question for you would be "how much complexity would this add, and does it create enough value to justify the development cost?"
    • This feature makes sense if you're planning to use in-engine graphics for the sex scenes (because the player is accustomed to using their mouse to interact with the 3d game world) -- it would feel disjointed if you're using hentai images ("why am I clicking on this? I'm supposed to be playing a 3dRPG, not a halfass Flash touching game!")
    • For the sake of simplicity, this would presumably involve geometric "target zones" rendered on top of the scene so that players don't need to blindly click on random locations (or pixel hunt. Fuck pixel hunting forever).
• Game GUI.
  • Should it be possible for the game GUI to intrude on the sex scene (e.g. "Achievement Unlocked - Fucked the Princess!" or "Item Acquired - Fuzzy Handcuffs" or "Quest Complete!")?
  • Such messages can add emphasis or context to the onscreen events, but they might also be disruptive.
  • On the other hand, if the player completes the sex scene and then gets suddenly bombarded with a bunch of messages about quest updates and achievements then they may miss important details due to information overload.
• Randomization.
  • Does it fit into your vision of the game? Would you prefer that modders omit it entirely from sex scenes, keeping the random elements within actual gameplay sections?
  • If randomization is included, then do we need to give players some indication when it occurs? For example: onscreen dice rolls - show the player that they had a 50/50 chance for oral vs anal, which gives them an incentive to replay the scene if they're interested in the alternative version.
  • Should the game include a "control freak" option which allows players to arbitrarily decide the outcome of any supposed-to-be-random activity?
  • If you want to get really fancy, then you could let the game roll the dice, and then give the player the ability to play a minigame if they want to change the outcome.
• Do you intend to allow Save/Load during dialog scenes? Players probably want you to say "yes" while modders probably want to you say "no."

P.S. The mega.co.nz link is fine but MediaFire isn't directly usable (requires copy-paste into address bar). Mediafire checks referrer tags and they'll nuke anything that gets too many hits from known pirate sites (such as this one, or Hongfire). If you remove the hyperlink tags and force people to copy-paste the URL manually then it might survive a bit longer.

 

[duck666]

Re: Renfield

I have to say nothing turns me off more than badly done 3D CGs. I hope the CGs in this will be good.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

I have to say nothing turns me off more than badly done 3D CGs. I hope the CGs in this will be good.

Everyone has different tastes.

I'd say my CGs aren't horrible.
They aren't near at a professional level, but they aren't terrible either.
Unfortunately the penis model has to be blurry or I can't sell it in Japan.

 

[Darkstrain]

Re: Renfield

that quality isnt bad at all, and in most cases, i'd prefer the overall setting of the scene than the eye candy, and since this is a mid-scale rpg, setting is priority for me at least.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Can they refer interchangeably to still images, gif animations, and flv/mp4 clips, or would each of these types require special markup?

So far I haven't really explored how to allow custom content by dropping it in a folder.
I'll look into it.

But your question about the gifs made me curious to see how it was done.
It's significantly more complicated than just using pngs, but I got it to work.

EDIT: Hang on, it has a bug.

Press spacebar to change images, but be warned that it takes a few seconds.

This test uses raw Gif files and is quite slow.
Each file is broken down and the frames organized into a list in realtime.
In order to make it smoother you'd have to break down the gif into frames beforehand and load the frames as a 2D animation.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Okay I've managed to kill 2 birds with one stone.

This app will allow you to cycle via gif files.
Just press the spacebar for a random gif.
It's very slow because it doesn't preload anything.

mega.co.nz/#!oYc10BoL!-xKFS9e1LzjYWLVHoZ8xd68am-BVwvq1V6tImecSqK0
mediafire.com/download/fz93dmuizu79apv/GifTest.rar

Also, you can replace the gifs in the Data folder with your own.
But the names must match, and you can only have up to 19.

So not only are gifs doable, but modders will have a simple
just-drop-it-in-a-folder means of overriding content.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Just as a matter of personal curiosity -- I'd be interested to see some of the details of the dynamic-text stuff and how it gets integrated into a dialog script. Like - does this just apply to sexual groans, or could you stimulate a character so much that you begin to see weird vowel sounds spliced into their normal scripted speech? Is it flexible enough to allow for goofy speech patterns? (e.g. pirates randomly insert "yarr" into normal dialog; catgirls randomly meow, etc)

The Dynamic Moans are created from a single string.
I just use loops and a += sign to keep adding to it before printing it to the GUI.
Dialog is broken down into an array and can be modified by weighted randomness.

So if we had a classroom and a student reads a quote in front of the class,
she would read "Vows made in storms are forgotten in calm."
But each word is in a different address in an array.
As the for() loop spins, it will either add the next word in the sentence or insert a moan/gasp depending on the stimulation vs. sensitivity variables.

When the same student tries to read with a vibrator in her pussy, it comes out:
"Vows *aah* made in *hyaa*... storms *ahah!* are *aha!* forgotten in calm."
It's also possible to splice or distort the ordinary speech pattern.
"V-vows made in-n stooorms..."

Finally, character-specific insertions are also easily managed.
Catgirls can meow and women will use different pronouns in the J-version.
i.e. tomboyish girls will use "boku" instead of "watashi" etc.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

I've just made a major breakthrough.
Previously I thought that I would be stuck making models in DAZ and having them be static in Unity.
But it turns out that you can bake in all sorts of face and body morphs and export them as animations.
This is huge.

Now I could, theoretically, spawn in a town of 100 npcs and have them all look slightly different.
They'd still be using the same model, but their animations would be blended with animations that adjusted their face and body morphs.
Not only that, but I could make it so that family members looked somewhat similar. (Since they'd draw from the same "gene-pool" of morph sliders)

It gets even better: You could have dynamically instantiated children!
They would inherit a random mix of traits from their parents which would make them look like convincing offspring.
Even cross-species humanoid offspring are possible. (Half-orcs, etc.)
Plus there's a "child" slider that will allow you to watch the child to grow up in front of your eyes.

Of course implementing all this isn't going to be simple.
File this under the 100s of features Renfield will EVENTUALLY have.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

You mentioned nakadashi, so it would be a good idea to include some examples of picture-in-picture overlays (note: I'm assuming that the current "fixed-size always-visible image brackets in the bottom corners" are a temporary feature).

As it happens, I just got the fully functional nakadashi system working today.
At the moment it calls the camera and spurts some particles for a second, then the "water level" rises in the womb.
If the player keeps cumming in the same girl, you'll see her gradually fill up.

Ultimately I plan to include a stat which varies the amount of cum.
Duration, number or particles, rate of emission, etc. can all be modified by scripts at runtime.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

You can use placeholders of course, but this would let modders (and potential buyers) provide feedback on graphical composition. Examples:

"The 3d models can't emote very well, so I want to show an inset with a super-deformed anime reaction face when you tear the girl's clothes off or stick it in her pooper"

All the CGs could be overwritten by dropping your own in a folder.
I'll use a try-catch statement to scan for any custom assets the player has dropped in a folder.
If you've ever used custom textures for Dark Souls you'll be familiar with this.
Except that you can replace far more than textures.

You could recast any of the girls with new face and H-scene textures.
In anime and doujins the characters can make all sorts of facial expressions
which might not transfer over to the Genesis-based models.
But you could overwrite the face pictures with anime variants.
These could be lookalike images or something you drew/photoshopped yourself.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Transitions. Smash cuts? Crossfades? Star wipes? Motion tweens? What sort of options will be available to modders?

There isn't native support for this in Unity.
But a few simple transitions could be coded in.
For example: a fade-out/fade-in by adjusting the alpha layer of a cg.
Or they could slide in, up, down from off screen.

There's also some cheap assets that can handle transitions.
The Unity asset store still has a ton of scripting kits I've yet to look at.
So transitions are definitely possible.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

I'm scraping together some enemy mobs from the Unity store's discount bin.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Window size.

You can choose different resolutions when you fire up the launcher.
In-game I can include options which would adjust CG resolution and aspect ratio.
Shouldn't be a problem.

 

[sup12up]

Re: Renfield

Interesting idea, I hope in the game will be a wide variety of armor and enemies

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Interesting idea, I hope in the game will be a wide variety of armor and enemies

Making a wide variety of armors is easy.
Except for shields, they don't need to be visually represented.
At present I have 48 different items.
Some of them are recolors/retextures of the same shields.

Now with monsters it's a bit more difficult.
Expect a lot of recycling of the same models.
Once the game goes on sale I'll start purchasing more models.

 

[SquallPT]

Re: Renfield

Damn this looks awesome, looking foward to play it

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Damn this looks awesome, looking foward to play it

Well you don't have to wait too long.
Here's a test demo:

You must be registered to see the links

There's really nothing to do in this early alpha version.
It's just a primitive version of the map.
Right now I just want to confirm that the executable runs on other systems.